Restaurant and bakery plans unveiled for Caythorpe pub

Pual Grinnell

Plans have been drawn up to convert an historic village pub into a restaurant and bakery.

Under the proposals the grade two listed Waggon and Horses pub, in High Street, would be closed and turned into a restaurant and a separate bakery.

In addition, the car park and gardens would be used for the construction of three homes in a single terrace.

The plans have been drawn up by the buildings’ owners, Totemic Property, of Kempton House, Dysart Road, Grantham, who say the pub is no longer a viable business.

The proposals for the 0.16 hectares site have just been submitted to South Kesteven District Council for consideration.

They involve converting the ground floor of the main two-storey building into a restaurant, with the single storey wing to the north being converted into a bakery and shop.

The upper floor would remain in residential use in connection with the ground floor uses.

The aim is to maintain the community use of the buildings but the owners warn that other options may have to be considered.

A statement accompanying the application reads: “The applicants in this case, who are the freehold owners, are seeking alternative uses of the building.

“Whilst residential conversion of the building would appear to be a realistic option, the applicants are willing to explore a number of alternative community focused uses in the first instance in order to maintain the community use of the building.

The statement adds: “For some considerable time the public house has been operating at a loss.

“Whilst the public house remains open this is in effect operating on a ‘care and maintenance basis’ there are clearly costs in term of keeping a property vacant, such as for example maintenance costs, business rates and security, and the considered position at the present time is that costs of keeping the public house open are marginally better than it being vacant.

“The tenancy costs are presently heavily discounted to enable the operation to continue.

“This is not a viable long-term proposition, and without viable alternative use proposals coming forward in the near future the premises will cease trading and will close.”